


And On the Very World

by victoriousscarf



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: M/M, Mutually possessive dwarf boys, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-07
Updated: 2013-01-07
Packaged: 2017-11-24 01:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/628561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoriousscarf/pseuds/victoriousscarf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You never were good at denying yourself anything, were you?” Thorin asked and Fili could feel his shoulders tighten.</p><p>“Were you?” he asked and felt more than saw the angry flash of Thorin’s gaze as his uncle looked over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And On the Very World

**Author's Note:**

> I've been noticing a lot of fics recently where basically either all of Dwarf culture is down with Fili and Kili, or at the very least Thorin is. (Which are amazing fics, and I love quite a few of them). However, I've done far too much research into how sexuality is treated historically over the last three years to not consider it from the other side too (Though, looking over Tolkien's works I think an argument could well be made for dwarves being the most accepting culture in Middle Earth. No necessarily accepting, but the /most/ likely to not be quite so offended by it). 
> 
> Which is not to say disapproving Thorin loves his nephews any less, because that's not in his ability, but he hopes to someday bring them around to dwarf wives.
> 
> I keep sitting down to write something and end up writing something completely different instead.

“You never were good at denying yourself anything, were you?” Thorin asked and Fili could feel his shoulders tighten.

“Were you?” he asked and felt more than saw the angry flash of Thorin’s gaze as his uncle looked over. “We’re dwarves—” Fili started and cut off when Thorin moved to stand in front of him rather than shoulder to shoulder, blocking his gaze of the training grounds. Fili’s eyes snapped up to Thorin’s and away from where he had been watching Kili practice the bow.

 “You are the heir of Durin,” Thorin said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You are _my_ heir.”

“Which doesn’t give you a control over me entirely,” Fili said and Thorin’s eyes narrowed again.

“Of course not,” he murmured and Fili dug his heels in as if bracing for something. “But I had thought you mature enough to understand your responsibility.”

Taking a deep breath Fili let it out. “Which part of it?” he asked carefully. Every day he spent training, learning to throw axes under pressure with precision and to wield two swords together. He followed his uncle to meetings with other dwarves, listening and not falling asleep. He spent time with Balin, learning to draw the dwarf runes in excellent penmanship, hearing the histories and stories over and over as Balin looked over his shoulder.

At the end of the day, Kili, who often skipped lessons with Balin now to train with the bow, would sweep around him, pulling them both back to the room they’d shared for years under the Blue Mountains. And for a while Fili could forget everything he’d just learned, plotting instead what sort of tricks they could play either on or with Gimli, what they could steal easiest from the kitchen, or at the very least he could let his mind go blank curled around his brother’s chest.

Meeting Thorin’s eyes, he remained braced, sure that in any of the ways that mattered he hadn’t lost or slackened in his duty.

“As King Under the Mountain,” Thorin said. “As you should be some day, there are certain obligations. You will need diplomacy, allies. Would you take your very brother as your one and sit him beside you?”

“It wouldn’t have to be like that,” Fili said, trying to ignore how appealing it sounded. “I know that would be foolish—” Over Thorin’s shoulder he could see where Kili had stopped shooting, turning in concern to where his uncle and brother were staying.

“If it comes to it, what would you do for an heir?” Thorin asked. “Or would you let the line pass to Dain?”

“Dain?” Fili asked, trying not to laugh because he respected the king of the Iron Hills and he knew Thorin was being very serious. “You seem to be forgetting two things,” Fili continued. “That _you_ never produced a heir of your own so it’s rich you would lecture me and secondly, we have _no_ kingdom. We’re not kings of anything and when you say I will be King Under the Mountain someday, well, there’s a dragon between me and there isn’t there?”

Thorin paused and Fili felt his stomach turning over, waving Kili off when the younger took a step forward, though Kili didn’t return to shooting.

“I’m sorry uncle—” Fili started and Thorin shook his head.

“But supposing we had Erebor back,” Thorin said. “Would you be with your brother now and break his heart then or try and stand against all the world? How many other dwarf kingdoms would come to your aid if and when you needed them, like they did in the War of Dwarves and Orcs? It would be kinder to stop now.”

Fili looked over Thorin’s shoulder again and thought about how the conversation had started, when Thorin came upon him sitting with one leg pulled up, smoking from his pipe while he watched Kili. “But you’re right,” he said. “Neither of us have really been all that good at denying what we want. I _am_ your heir.”

The corner of Thorin’s mouth twisted and he shook his head, silver clasps moving in his dark hair. “You might not believe that in the end,” he murmured and before Fili could protest he shook his head again. “I came to tell you that I am leaving for Bree to meet with someone. I shall be gone several days.”

Taking a deep breath, Fili nodded.

“If you think to continue this,” Thorin said. “You will have the world against you without as much support as you would need.”

“I understand,” Fili said, not sure if he actually did or not but Thorin accepted that, turning to nod at Kili before leaving. Once his back disappeared around the corner Kili bounded up, the few others at the training grounds having been studiously ignoring Thorin and Fili’s confrontation.

“What did he want?” Kili frowned, fingers tracing along the bow.

Leaning back, Fili brought his pipe back up, letting the smooth lines of the wood sooth him for a moment. “He wanted to tell me he would be in Bree for several days.”

Kili tilted his head, frowning. “There was more to that conversation than that,” he murmured and Fili rose.

“Come,” he murmured. “We should…” he wasn’t sure what they actually had to do that day, except that he wanted away from there.

“Prepare for dinner,” Kili finished for him, leading the way and tucking his pipe away Fili followed. “Now what was really going on,” Kili asked, bumping his shoulder and Fili jerked it away.

“Not yet,” he said softly and registered Kili’s alarmed look though he didn’t reply to it until they reached their shared chamber, deep under the Blue Mountains and Kili pressed his back against the door, watching his brother.

“So what is it?” he asked, tone more wary than it had been.

“Thorin disapproves,” Fili said finally.

For a moment Kili didn’t answer. “Did you ever expect him to?” he asked after a pause.

“No,” Fili huffed out in laughter. “No, I never really did. I expected the lecture on duty and on heirs and on the very world—” Before he could get any further Kili launched himself from the door, pulling Fili to him. Fili’s breath hitched when he felt the slide of his brother’s mouth and his smile was rueful when Kili pulled back.

“Would any of that sway you?” Kili asked, hands trailing down to hold onto Fili’s waist, foreheads together and Fili once again wondered when his brother had grown taller than him.

 “Yes, no,” Fili said and sighed, tilting his neck back slightly. “If… if it ever came down to it, if we did become heirs to a kingdom like that… he asked if I intended to declare you the one of my heart and set you up on a throne next to me.”

Kili’s breath hitched and Fili wondered if he could imagine it as well as he could. “That’d be foolish,” Kili said after another moment. “I’d much rather prefer to be master of the guard, or some such thing. Guard of the royal chambers perhaps—” and that startled a laugh out of Fili.

“Are you guarding my chambers?” he asked, shifting closer and Kili grinned.

“Aren’t I?” he teased and one finger came up to hook behind one of Fili’s braids. “Fili, I’m not a fool,” he continued after another breath. “I know what can and cannot be.”

“Do you think we could hide something like this our entire lives?” Fili asked, finger tightening on Kili’s hips as the younger nodded.

“I hate the thought of having to,” Kili said. “But yes. We could. Because we’d have each other.”

“And that means we can do anything?” Fili said, trying to sound like he doubted it but then Kili laughed in the small space between them and Fili uttered believed it for that moment.

“We can do anything,” Kili assured him and Fili yanked him forward in the small space between them into another, deeper kiss.

Several mornings later the door yanked open before dawn and Fili was falling out of bed and rising with knives in hand before he had time to think much more than that they hadn’t succeeded a keeping a secret for very long before he realized he was confronting Thorin, Kili pressing against his back.

“It’s good to see at least you’re quick,” Thorin said, quirking a brow and Fili carefully put his knives back down.

“Yes, uncle?” Fili asked, consciously trying to keep his voice even and not let panic bubble up in his chest. “Have you just gotten back?”

“Yes,” Thorin said, looking between them. “I met someone unexpected at Bree.”

“Who?” Kili asked, still pressed behind Fili’s shoulder.

“Gandalf,” Thorin said. “And he said he would offer us his help to retake Erebor.”

For a moment stunned silence greeted him. “Retake Erebor?” Fili asked, throat dry as shock worked up through his system.

“When are we leaving?” Kili asked, body shifting eagerly and Fili almost elbowed him in the stomach.

“Soon,” Thorin said, looking between them. “I would have you both accompany me.”

“Of course,” they said, voices echoing together though Kili’s tone was several shades brighter at the prospect, though Fili could feel the desire for adventure thrum through his body at the thought of it. Even if he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to reach the end goal of the quest.

Thorin’s eyes lingered on Fili for a moment before he nodded. “We will take more after breakfast,” he said and with an incline of his head stepped back and shut the door.

“Erebor,” Kili said, as they turned to each other. His tone was reverent, awed at the prospect and Fili nodded.

Hesitating a moment he twined one hand around Kili’s shoulder. “It does bring things into sharper focus,” he murmured. “And if we succeed—”

Kili swooped in for a kiss and Fili tilted back into it willingly, letting the feel of his brother’s lips distract him. “We’ll do as we’ve always done,” Kili said. “Keep it secret and keep each other safe.”

“And if we do reclaim the kingdom and have to rule it one day?” Fili asked.

“We’ll keep it secret and keep each other safe,” Kili repeated, offering his brother such a grin that Fili could only agree with him. “Besides,” Kili added. “There’s still a dragon between us and there.”

Fili returned the grin, leaning up to press their mouths together. “We’re going on a quest,” he breathed into Kili’s ear and found himself pressed back into the bed.

When they were late for breakfast Thorin carefully didn’t comment and Fili ignored the disapproval in his eyes to focus on the quest at hand instead. Because they were finally going to retake their kingdom, and if they succeeded, well, Fili thought, looking at where Kili was animatedly talking to Thorin, slowly coaxing warm smiles out of him, anything else would come later. 


End file.
